Outa acts against mining minister

COMPLAINTS of high treason‚ extortion‚ corruption‚ fraud and theft have been laid against Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane by the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa).

The complaints are contained in an explosive 51-page affidavit compiled by Outa.

The civic rights organisation laid the criminal complaints at Randburg police station yesterday.

The charges relate to Zwane’s alleged role in helping the embattled Gupta family to, among other things‚ acquire the Optimum Coal Mine and allegedly steal money from Vrede Dairy Farm in the Free State to fund their niece’s Sun City wedding.

They also relate to his abusing his position of power as minister to the benefit of the Gupta family and their associates in the landing of their wedding guests at Air Force Base Waterkloof in April 2013.

The complaints were laid in terms of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act.

Zwane is among the first of the known Gupta allies to face such complaints.

If convicted, he could face at least 25 years’ imprisonment.

In his affidavit, Outa chief operating officer Ben Theron says Zwane allegedly committed fraud by “unlawfully and intentionally” making misrepresentations knowing that they were false.